Safety and accident prevention at work are top priority for many industries in the UK. For the construction industry, with its many potential risks involved, adhering to safety regulations is paramount to ensuring your employees are safe and your business is compliant.
All employers in the UK construction industry must adhere to the minimum safety regulations set out by the UK government and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE). However, many companies impose even more stringent regulations to prevent accidents and injuries on site.
Safety is the responsibility of the employer on a construction site. That could mean supplying personal protective equipment (PPE) and safety footwear to their employees and conducting regular site surveys to manage risk.
Managing accident risk and mitigating risk-prone scenarios is one of the lead duties of a site manager. They will often look at HSE advisory tips and regulations and improve upon them to suit their specific site and employee’s needs.
Research has shown that many accidents in the workplace can be avoided if the correct safety procedures are followed. For industries such as manufacturing and construction, where employees spend a lot of time on their feet, footwear safety is vital to prevent accidents.
HSE advises that “footwear selection has to take account of a number of factors”. These could include things like slip resistance, comfort and durability. When choosing footwear to be worn on site, it is also important to consider other key safety features they should include such as steel toe caps.
Before informing your employees which kind of shoe to wear or that you will be supplying, it is important you make a full assessment of the working conditions on site. Slip-resistant shoes will behave differently on varying surfaces. To avoid costly accidents, it is important you suggest or supply safety footwear that meets the conditions they will be used in.
Depending on the size of the project your team are working on, they might be working on site over several moths or more than a year. Therefore, it is critical that their safety footwear is durable enough to withstand repeated use over time.
When selecting footwear for your site, it is important to source footwear manufactured from high-quality safety fabrics that have been built to last. Many new innovations in safety materials have made safety footwear more stylish over the years, but safety should be prioritised over looks when it comes to preventing accidents on site.
Finally, to ensure your employees do not end up with long-term health problems due to their footwear, you should select comfortable safety footwear that has been designed orthopaedically. Poorly shaped or fitting shoes can cause a myriad of skeletal problems that you may be liable for if you provide the wrong safety footwear.
For further advice of getting the right footwear, consult the HSE’s footwear safety tips.